STARS in West Africa: ISABELA*

In West Africa, STARS promotes the use of imagery by smallholders and intermediaries to activate business enterprises and leverage agriculture (ISABELA). This work, led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) aims to leverage the enormous variety of biophysical and socio-economic conditions to accelerate agricultural intensification in the region.

One first use case addresses the lack of transparent land tenure information services, which deters sustainable investment in land resources by smallholders, communities and the local private sector, and disempowers them in their current internal operations and in their relations with urban and international investors. A second use case addresses the inability to cost-effectively recognize cultivated species in smallholder fields, which protracts the prediction and valuation of seasonal agricultural production, and prevents equitable access to physical and financial inputs and markets by smallholders and agro-dealers.